Mercy for ‘naive’ tattooist in £50k cash for crash con

A motorist triggered a £50,000 ‘crash for cash’ scam – because he hadn’t realised he could get his car fixed for free. Stephen Eatherall handed over his Range Rover to a gang of insurance fraudsters because he feared he couldn’t meet the cost of gearbox repairs after a breakdown. By the time the 30-year-old remembered that the car was covered by warranty, it had been written off in a staged accident.

A motorist triggered a £50,000 ‘crash for cash’ scam – because he hadn’t realised he could get his car fixed for free.

Stephen Eatherall handed over his Range Rover to a gang of insurance fraudsters because he feared he couldn’t meet the cost of gearbox repairs after a breakdown.

By the time the 30-year-old remembered that the car was covered by warranty, it had been written off in a staged accident.

Each of the plotters put in an insurance or compensation claim for the sham crash, said to have happened at a junction in Ainsworth, Bury.

The scheme unravelled because Eatherall, who used to it to escape repayments on the vehicle, couldn’t keep up the pretence. He confessed to insurers Zurich before admitting conspiracy to defraud.

The out-of-work tattooist, said to be ‘naive’, was spared jail at a Manchester Crown Court. Michael Lavery, defending, told court: "As a consequence of his foolishness, he has lost his effective good character and for five years had this hanging over him."

William Donnelly, prosecuting, told the court that the plot began back in July 2007, when Eatherall’s Range Rover broke down near Huddersfield, Yorks.

After getting a hefty quote for repairs, a pal put him in touch with people who promised to sort out the problem, and he handed his car over to them.

Eatherall then lied to his insurance company that the car had been involved in a crash with an Audi. The owner of the Audi, John Cody, who wanted to get rid of his vehicle, said his car had been involved in a crash with the Range Rover. Craig Phillips, who runs a vehicle recovery business, lied and said he had removed debris from the scene with an employee before towing the car away.

Both vehicles were damaged at the premises of Richard Beswick’s garage at Breightmet, Bolton. Beswick falsely nominated himself as the driver of the Audi and put in a whiplash compensation claim, saying he had been shunted from the rear.

Michael Entwistle, who worked for Beswick’s firm, claimed he had been a passenger in the vehicle and also made a whiplash claim.

Phillips, 45, of Heap Bridge, Bury, Beswick, 51, of the Hall Coppice, Bolton, and Cody, 38, of Lynton Lea, Radcliffe, were jailed last year for conspiracy to defraud.

Entwistle, 45, of Somerton Road, Bolton, was spared jail in the same hearing.

Sentencing Eatherall, of Brunswick Street, Burnley, in a separate hearing, Judge Martin Steiger QC said Eatherall’s evidence had been of ‘considerable assistance’ in convicting Phillips, who was found guilty at his trial.

Ordering him to serve a 51-week sentence suspended for 12-months, with 200 hours' unpaid work, he said of Eatherall: "I have not the slightest doubt that the defendant was far more naive than others to whom he turned, who arranged with significant dishonesty how this claim was to be managed and sought to enrich themselves."